If you wondered just WHY Rainstrip was able to look at Loki's fin in Meet Rainy... this is the answer. Poor Loki... Loki helped with this fic, as did Dendey, and both the Seekers and Shadow were done by myself, Kd Zeal. None of use own Transformers, and no money is being made from this.
Why did they always attack HER? All she did was enjoy tearing off Seeker wings and it wasn't like she had a giant bull's-eye on her back or fin! ...then again she was thirty feet tall and sixty feet long… Loki ducked down and fired from her fox hole, trying desperately to not get shot again. More and more shots wizzed past her, narrowly missing the large dinobot and made her wonder where the SLAG everyone was, she hadn't seen any of her comrades for awhile… it was extremely worrying…
Starscream was having a great time! That utterly annoying dinobot who so loved going for his wings was trapped and alone. Far from easy prey, of course, it wouldn't be any fun if she was easy... On his next flyby, the Seeker decided to land, transforming a little ways away from her... he wanted to see her, and maybe keep her attention... How would she like it if HER fin was ripped off, think it's all fun and games losing wings, well, she wouldn't for long...
With a snarl, Loki aimed at the Decepticon Seeker that'd been attacking her, tail whipping in annoyance. She deserved getting attacked she knew, but it didn't make it any less horrible to be hunted… "Ready ta' lose 'nother set o' ya' perty wings there, Screamer?" the dinobot taunted Starscream, with a grin to hide her nervousness. "O' maybe ya' still wanna play first…"
Thundercracker and Skywarp were already working while their leader distracted the dinobot. The white Seeker didn't even look at them, his targeting computer gave him more than enough information. "You know, if I didn't know better, I'd think you have a FETISH, my dear... or do you, does looking at our wings help you reach your lonely overloads?" Starscream replied, grinning cruelly, keep her attention on him... and hope his trine-mates got to her before she reached him!
Laughing outright, Loki flexed her claws, "Oh naw, naw, naw, 'ur wings 're mostly stockpiled o' used as decorations, Screamer, A' don' need 'em ta' overload, A' don' got th' voice o' a screamin' petro-rabbit ta' scare away lovers." The look of rage on Starscream's face was amazing and Loki grinned, "What, ya' never heard that 'ne 'fore? A'm surprised, A' mean every'ne whose heard ya' scream…"
Only the knowledge that his wing-mates were close to their goal kept Starscream from attacking at that. "But, unlike you, I have power, position, LOOKS, and intelligence... Even you admit my wings are pretty... you take so many..." Now! His wing-mates transformed, caught the large fin and started pulling. "Time to return the favor!"
Howling in pain Loki barrel rolled on reflex, claws slashing into the two mechs attacking her. The dinobot had to marvel at the perfect plan but pushed that marvel away, intent on keeping her fin on… even though it had been nearly torn off. It hurt just as bad as the last time she'd had her fin ripped into… and worse from the fact that it was DECEPTICONS doing it… ""K, so A' deserve ta' have mah most sensitive part ripped off, but A' ain't goin' without no fight!" Loki growled, tail slamming into Skywarp and sending him to the ground. "Oh, an' Screamer, at least A' can make A' lover stay after th' overload an' no run 'way." Okay, so she was covering up agony with throwing insults at Starscream, who wouldn't?
"You took my cockpit!" Starscream... well, screamed, in exactly the voice which Loki was mocking. Skywarp was dazed, well, having a tail slammed into him like that would daze anyone. Time to enter this fight himself, and this time HE would be the one bearing the trophy! "Watch what you say about my lovers... two of them just did a good job at taking your fin!" Starscream answered, engaging his thrusters long enough to join Thundercracker in pulling at the green and black metal.
Without warning Loki lashed out, catching one of the Seekers in the chest plates with her claws and biting down on another, tearing into armor with her sharp unforgiving teeth. Like hell she was going to lose her fin without really letting loose! But it was getting hard to fight with the fire that was spreading across her back… so hard…
Skywarp had recovered from the blow, glad it wasn't a little lower or he'd have cracked glass. Starscream was currently trapped in the dinobot's teeth and Thundercracker... there he was, laying on the ground with his arm covering a dangerously deep wound. Well, there wasn't any retreat going to happen with their wing-leader and acting Lord trapped in a dinobot's teeth... and besides, Skywarp was SICK of letting the femme take his wings. And if he got the fin off, she might scream and drop her Seeker chew-toy. With all this settled in his mind, the black and purple Seeker used his warping ability to get where he wanted to be, going right back to tearing at her fin.
With another snarl Loki swung around, slamming Starscream into his trine-mate and letting go of the red and white so they could fall to the ground in a heap near Thundercracker. Her fin was bent slightly and covered in deep gouges but thankfully still in place, some of her spikes near it though… weren't so lucky. "Since ya' got so close ta' takin' mah fin an' A' kinda deserved it A' won' take ya' wings this time o' for 'while…" As she spoke Loki backed away in case the Seekers weren't as injured as they looked, she couldn't take much more, and was loosing energon quickly from her wounds…
Stunned, Starscream really had no choice but to let her go. Well, some of the spikes had broken off, he would have to content himself with those... and they wouldn't have to worry about splitting them up, there were enough spines there for his whole trine. "As if you were in any condition to take trophies this time!" Standing, he mostly ignored the deep and painful bite marks and approached as slowly as the dinobot was backing away. A surprise attack with all their firepower might be enough to take her down, but it might not be, and he knew his trine was weakened.
Feeling rather like a trapped animal Loki attacked, teeth ripping into the Seeker's wing. "A'll show ya' condition!" She growled, tail lashing in annoyance. The dinobot didn't know why but she was PISSED and attacking… well, it was automatic… even if her processor was screaming at her to run and protect herself.
Starscream screeched in agony as the dinobot reacted like an animal, all but shredding a wing. He thought he heard Thundercracker over his own voice, heard shots, shots, good idea... Trying to focus past the pain, the white Seeker shot the dinobot with everything he had, his shots joining the blue Seeker's. Skywarp, meanwhile, had gone right back to trying to remove the now barely-on fin. She had promised to leave the wings alone, well, he was going to make her pay for that!
Surprise made Loki cry out, the searing pain of null ray blasts hitting her hard. She whirled and lashed at out her attackers, unable to help it. Organic animal instincts came with being a dinobot and when they kicked in it didn't matter WHO was attacking her or WHY she fought back, even if it meant breaking an agreement… "Get off!" she yelled, tail slamming into Skywarp again making Loki EXTREMELY grateful that she had the appendage.
Skywarp hung on with a determination that was very unusual for him. Of course, hanging onto the fin didn't keep him from being knocked back to the ground... but wait, he was still holding onto the fin? Starscream only knew that the femme had released him when she yelled, Thundercracker was at his side, pulling him away... away? His trophy! Fighting off the blue Seeker long enough to at LEAST gather a few of the broken spines, Starscream finally let himself be led away, satisfied that it wasn't a totally defeat.
The second they were out of sight and audio shot Loki howled in pain, having been unable to chase after the three Seekers. Annoying low energy warnings flashed into her vision and the dinobot pushed herself into a standing position, needing to get out of the open and quickly. She felt… well, naked in a way, and the pain… it just wouldn't stop! Finding the cover of a cave Loki barely made it inside before she collapsed against the wall, sliding to the ground. Her body just wouldn't move any more, too many wounds… too much… The dinobot closed her optics and took solace in the fact that it'd taken THREE Seekers and a trick to bring her down before loosing consciousness.
He got to the battle-scene way beyond tragically late. From the amount of energon and scrap, Shadowsinger truly feared that someone was dead... Gathering up the spines, if Loki was still functional they'd be useful, he hoped, the small mech followed the energon trail. At least the trail was easy to follow, maybe the only encouraging thing about this... and it wasn't that encouraging, really. Finding the cave, Shadowsinger whimpered when he realized he had found Loki... and she looked horrible.
The second a sound alerted her to being found Loki woke and instinctively lashed out, nearly taking off Shadowsinger's head… and then instantly pulled away when she realized who it was, refusing to meet the mech's optics. The dinobot hated being helpless… loathed it with every fiber of her being. "Go 'way," she growled, optics still hidden from view.
"Sweet Primus!" Shadowsinger yelped, that had been WAY closer than he wanted to deal with. "I'm not short enough already?" Loki wasn't looking at him... He couldn't really blame her, embarrassment was practically pouring off of her. "Can't do that, sis, y'need help and y'know it. I can only pull off field repairs, but'cha gotta let me close 'nough t'do 'em."
"…No…" Curling up the dinobot growled again, even though she knew Shadow wasn't going to take it as an answer. "Go 'WAY," she snapped, burrowing down even more while trying to ignore the twinges of pain her actions caused.
Her... fin... was missing. Primus, someone had ripped away her FIN... as well as shattering a frightening number of spines... "Screamer got sick of y'takin' his wings?" Shadowsinger asked rhetorically, drawing closer while staying ready to dodge. He'd sent a message to Wishmaster, but it was going to take the medic a while to reach here. Too long, she needed basic repairs now... at least to stop the leaking.
The mewling sound Loki made hopefully answered her friend's question, and although the dinobot could tell he was coming closer didn't bother moving, limbs too tired and heavy. Maybe taking the Seeker's wings so often wasn't such a good idea…
In a way, good, she wasn't going to be trying to make him any shorter... In another way, very bad, she wasn't do well at all. Close enough to climb her now, Shadowsinger did just that, going over to check the gapping wound that had been Loki's fin. Pulling out the emergency kit that had served him before, the pale mech set about to stop the flow of energon, ruthlessly keeping himself focused on the job, and not on the fact that one of his friends was in pain.
The dinobot snarled when she realized that Shadowsinger was on her and trying to help, it wasn't like she didn't appreciate it, no, far from that! Loki just hated needing help… hated it greatly, and the small mech was her friend, that made the embarrassment less but it was still there… and it wasn't fun at all.
"Hush, you. I told you how pissed they were likely getting... Y'know, I can't even manage to get angry at them over this? Even if I'd like to..." He didn't think that Loki was even listening, it didn't really matter if she was or not. He was babbling more to distract himself than anything. "So... at a guess, you had all three against you? I bet you faired better than I did against them..."
Instead of answering immediately the dinobot growled, tail whipping. "Ya' don' think A' know that! A' ain't mad at them, A'm mad at me!!" With a snarl she tried to get up only to fall back, snarling again and in more pain than she'd been in before…
He had to grab at the open wound when Loki stood and fell. "Stop that!" and while it was snapped like an order, Shadowsinger's voice was also worried. He was very worried for Loki... "Calm down, loosing to the current Decepticon leader and his trine is hardly something to be mad an yourself for. Now please... calm down, sis... Let me work..."
Shadowsinger was right… but it still stung! Making a sound that was a cross of a whimper and growl Loki stopped trying to move as ordered. Although normally she'd have ignored it having her wound fixed, even just barely was soothing… so very soothing… then again… it could have been energon loss that was making the dinobot drowsy.
"There... that's right, just rest... Recharge, when you wake up you'll be in the medbay and almost all better..." Because she wasn't going to offline... she couldn't. Not Loki, not his sister... Starscream was NOT going to take her from him.
The dinobot found her friend and brother's words soothing, relaxing completely. Recharge sounded good… but if something happened… Loki could never forgive herself… "A' don' wanna…" But unconsciousness was pulling at her and she found herself slipping towards it quickly.
"I'll be fine, Loki... The battle's over. Let me take care of you now..." Shadowsinger hoped he'd guessed the reason for her reluctance. He didn't think it really mattered, she was slipping to recharge no matter what he said or did. He just hoped allowing her to recharge was the right thing to do.
Hearing Shadowsinger keep talking and assuring her, Loki let herself go into recharge, focusing on her brother's voice. He'd protect her in this state she knew, but was still worried about not only herself but him as well… Any Decepticon wouldn't hesitate to attack them, even if Shadow's back was turned.
Catching Shadowsinger's distress signal Wishmaster twitched in his plating. Quickly he scanned the few mechs remaining on the battlefield, doing a diagnostic in correlation to the CSO's coordinates. It would take him almost a breem to reach him if he stayed in his second alt mode, a breem Loki might not have if the distress in Shadow's voice was anything to go by.
-Prahm, gotta go!- he data burst her without much thought and transformed midstep into his fist alt mode, the black B-2 spirit stealth bomber with the dark forest green Autobot insignias on it's wings. Firing up his engines immediately he rose high into the sky before Barricade even knew what was going on, far too busy with Xobit and Blowout keeping him company to go after him. Racing over the clouds and the unsteady terrain of the stretch of country that separated him from the dinobot 2IC, he called up his diagnostic programs and tried to get Shadowsinger to respond to his inquiries about the extent of the damage. Wishmaster actually dropped half a mile in the air until his processor adjusted his flight pattern once he heard that her fin had been ripped off. It was a delicate structure filled with sensor nodes and long range scanners, she would feel immeasurably irritated and uninformed without it...not good. A disoriented dinobot wasn't good at all he decided and put on a little extra speed from the adjusted fuel he hadn't really gotten around to testing yet, but really hoped would work as desired. And really as the nitro rich compressed fluid reached his engine, he was catapulted forwards from the extra speed.
Transforming mid landing he came down hard onto the ground, but as a flier his knee joints had been designed to take such hits and falls with ease and he immediately broke into a run to get into the cave where he could hear Shadowsinger calling for him already. "Have you clamped the leaks?" was the first question he managed to shoot at the little mech, his optics taking in all the damage within a split second and his diagnostics prompted his scanners to go over Loki's fuel tanks and energon lines. There were so many leaks in the outer part of her chassis. "Step back," he ordered curtly and reached underneath the dinobots chest once Shadowsinger had complied by jumping away from the femme. Reaching deep into a seam he immediately found the switch he had been aiming for and pushed it halfway down, closing off most of her internal systems and energon flow. Now only Loki's spark and CPU were still supplied, an action that would hopefully gain them the extra breems he so desperately needed to repair her. Another sweep of his scanners detected a remaining hole deep in the dinobots chassis, a ruptured energon line he wouldn't have the time to patch up now.
He would have to partially disassemble her to even reach it, so patching it now just wasn't an option. Xobit bliped his comm unit to inform him that all their opponents had receded, inquiring if he needed help. -Slag yeah, get yer aft here an' get me some energon, a stretcher and Primus more luck than ya can carry!- he snarled into the communication and his Prime understood him immediately, promising to be there with Blowout shortly. "Shadow', get her' Ah need ya energon," he gestured the smaller mech forward and carefully plugged him into Loki's smallest internal energon circulation through her chest plates. The cave looked really messy already and he had to wonder if he would be able to keep her online this time. "Jus' whacha tryin' ta prove ta us her' anyway...." he glowered at the thankfully recharging femme and went nearly crazy with worry in his own processor, no matter how mad he was, he still cared for this at times really annoying but loveable slagger.
"What leaks I could," Shadowsinger wasn't entirely sure if Wishmaster had even heard him, well, his work was fairly obvious. He stayed out of the way until the medic called him over and attached him to his so-called sister. "I think Screamer's whole trine found her..." the mech said quietly, he knew it was a rhetorical question but he would much rather talk than worry in silence. There wasn't anything more he could do at this point, just sit and wait... and try not to think.
"Ah've locked ya inta 'er energon circulation fer a reason ya know. So...keep her onlahn," he growled at Shadowsinger and slowly stood up to have an optical scan of Loki's chassis where her fin usually was attached. Hoping that Xobit and Blowout would just hurry the pit up, he carefully felt around the ripped plating and noticed Loki's tail twitching. Even in recharge and with literally almost all her systems down, the pain from this wound was still strong enough to travel through the whole haze. It was impressive that Shadowsinger had gotten her to actually calm down somewhat, otherwise she certainly wouldn't be recharging by now, yet what he wouldn't give for a fully online and bitching dinobot...
"Hear that, sis? Stay online, or Wish'll be mad at me. And I do my best not to get medics mad at me, so don't y'go messing that up," Shadowsinger whispered to Loki. He knew, or at least assumed, that she couldn't hear him, but talking gave him something to do as he let his energon flow into her systems. This was one of the times he hated his size, he didn't hold as much energon as a full sized mech, and so might not have enough to help Loki. Still, it was some.
Setting to work on disconnecting the ripped lines he could reach, no matter if energon, data or sensory flow, Wishmaster worked around the ripped off fin, down the entire back and to the tip of the tail. Numbing the sensory output as much as he dared, fearing that he wouldn't be able to prod her online if he lowered it beneath thirty percent, he ripped out what the dinobot didn't need anymore. Some parts were so badly screwed that repairing them was out of the question.
Hitching a few connections that skipped most of Loki's regular functions throughout her chassis was all he could do to keep any further fluid loss to a minimum. All they could do now was to wait for their Prime and escort to arrive so that they could load the dinobot into his hangar and make their way back to the Nerdene Hyrde.
Okay, wow... Watching Wishmaster at work was really interesting... when he wasn't working on Loki. Or more precisely, when Loki wasn't so badly damaged... Shadowsinger sat and leaned against the dinobot, minimizing his own energy usage, and worked very hard to ignore his urge to chatter at Wishmaster. NO torquing off medics, especially when they were working to keep his sister alive...
"How fa' daun a' ya enagon lev'ls bah nau an'wah?" He inquired of the silent chief security officer and noted that his accent was coming through far stronger than usual, which tended to happen when he was stressed or worried. Right now he was certain that it couldn't possibly worsen any further though, he was worried sick to his spark!
It took a klick or two for Shadowsinger to realize Wishmaster was speaking to him and to work out what he said. "Ah... thir'seven. Wow, she takes a lot..." THAT was a stupid statement if he'd ever said one. Shadows fell across them from the cave mouth, Prime and Blowout had arrived at last, and Shadowsinger found himself relaxing. Or maybe that was just from the energy drain on his systems...
"Stupid slagged up ignoran..." Now that their rescue party had arrived Wishmaster could feel a distinctive sense of calm permeating through his entire being. His spark ceased the annoying and painful fluttering and clenching in on itself, instead it slowly began pulsing slowly again. Transcending into his processor his newfound calm washed his accent away once more. Handing Shadowsinger an energon cube to refill his systems and relieve them of some of the strain keeping Loki was putting onto them he turned back to his patient.
"Give us cover and escort back to the ship," he quickly requested, checking the linkages for the last time to make certain they were up to the straining task of Loki being moved.
Well… that was weird… when did the sky look like… oh. Loki stiffly sat up with a groan, tail twitching when the dinobot's back and fin protested the movement…. Wait, fin? The last thing she'd known was that it had been ripped off… Looking around, she realized that she was ,in fact, in the med bay and had been on her side, the most logical way to lay while in her alt form. Wishmaster must have been working nonstop to get her a new fin and the dinobot guiltily looked around for the medic to thank him as well as find Shadowsinger too, if the little mech still wanted to be near her. It wasn't lost on Loki that she'd nearly bitten him in half and had treated him rather poorly while in her hiding spot, not only that but she couldn't remember anything after that point, nothing at all.
A groan pulled Shadowsinger out of his light recharge, and he looked towards Loki. She had been unconscious for nearly four orns, and Shadowsinger had stayed as close as possible for that time. At least she didn't wake up promising pain to the medics... "Sis?" Shadowsinger approached Loki slowly, just in case she felt like trying to make him shorter again. She shouldn't, that had just been a reaction from pain, but... "How... are you feeling?"
"Mmm… bro? Um… like somethin' hit meh… wait… ya' still wanna be 'round meh?" That was a surprise, most wouldn't have even tried to come near… actually… "Ya' haven't been in 'ere long right?" Shadowsinger looked kind of dusty, as if he hadn't been much of anywhere else for awhile… "How long've A' been out? A' don' 'member anythin' 'cept tryin' ta' hurt ya' an' havin' no fin…"
"Um, yah... that's 'bout the time you went unconscious... Ah, well... obviously, Wish' came... Shut mosta yer systems and hooked meh up t'ya... Ya know how much ENERGON ya take? And got ya back here... obviously." Well, why wouldn't he want to be around her, he knew she hadn't MEANT to bite at him. Not really... "Well, almost four orns... and of course I haven't! I had to leave and do work and get fuel SOMETIME..."
Right… that was a lot of information to take in… "A'm sorry bro, A'…" Loki was at a blank and was showing it by looking blankly at her brother. "Good, if ya' had A'd…" Well, she'd slag him if he hadn't left for that long that was for sure! It didn't help that the new appendage on her back was sensitive and rather… itchy, a normal feeling weight but some how different and… heavy? Or maybe that was what ever numbing stuff Wish had shot her up with…
Climbing up the berth, Shadowsinger tried to smile. "You'd what?" Now that it was clear that Loki would be okay, the small mech could admit how worried he'd been. "You should prolly rest some more... I'll stay with ya if you want." He would very much like to stay with her, but he had been... hesitant. "An' about trying ta... well, I know ya were just in pain and... yeah, we can forget that, if you want."
"Ask me that again when A'm not doped up," Loki mumbled, grasping her brother and holding him so she could move and get comfy again. "An' no bro… A'm sorry fo' it, A' shoulda been able ta' control myself, even while hurt." Holding him closer the dinobot nodded to herself, "No go please…" Yep whatever the slag Wishmaster had given her was the good stuff, was still in effect even with her movement…
Now safely held in Loki's arms, Shadowsinger was finally able to fully relax. "No go. Not gonna go anywhere. Rest, sis... I'll be here when you wake up." With a low, humming purr, the mech took his own advice, dropping into a deep and restful recharge.
Please leave a review!